I have a scene I am trying to throw together and I am building the assets now and plan to throw it together in UDK. My question is, there are some hoses and tubes around the factory along the back wall and I am wondering how to approach them. Should I just model them in max, texture them and import them as individual assets? Or is there some way to make simple tubes in UDK and then just texture them with some different trim textures?

Can't tell much about your UDK question, but if you wan't a lot of random cables, neilblevins' soulburnscripts wire bundler could help you.

Model them in groups and place them. Probably make modular mesh tiles that are specific sizes so you can use them in other places.

I personally would use Neil's spline painter script to draw wires cables and pipes, its better than the one included in the Graphite Modeling Tools. You can also use regular splines. Don't forget to turn on the generate mapping coords to generate perfect UV's.

If the cables have some slack a cool thing to do is to convert them to cloth and pin/preserve the parts of the wire that are attached to the wall. Then run the simulation to add some gravity make them hang. It takes less than 2 min and saves you from having to try and manufacture that look.

Originally Posted by Mark Dygert

Model them in groups and place them. Probably make modular mesh tiles that are specific sizes so you can use them in other places.
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^^^^ This is a good basic way to do this ^^^^

but for "hero" pipes you can use SplineLoftActors. Which are like a spline deformer in max.

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/Using...oftActors.html

the only downside is that the geometry won't collide with anything.

[QUOTE=Mark Dygert;1252678]Model them in groups and place them. Probably make modular mesh tiles that are specific sizes so you can use them in other places.


I am familiar with the rendering splines and enebling the generate mapping coordinates button and that was going to be my approach but what do you mean by the modular mesh idea.

Originally Posted by Mark Dygert

If the cables have some slack a cool thing to do is to convert them to cloth and pin/preserve the parts of the wire that are attached to the wall. Then run the simulation to add some gravity make them hang. It takes less than 2 min and saves you from having to try and manufacture that look.

I was trying this technique and it works great the whole spine maintains its cylyndrical shape except for the lowest point where it hangs. That bend at the bottom gets flattened out. Is there a setting I am missing that will allow it to retain its shape? I can post some screen shots later tonight if this description is not clear.

If that happens you can stiffen up your cloth by picking another tougher preset, its probably set to silk or something light and whispy. I normally go pretty stiff but then crank up the gravity to get it to hang at the level I want.

Or just select a edge that runs the length of the wire, convert to shape (spline) and you have a new wire with a constant diameter that follows the new shape.

You can also use reactors rope modifier which operates on splines and holds its shape better. But be warned reactor is very much dependent on the scale your working on and really isn't as fast and flexible as the live simulate button in cloth, or the live drag.

Also I'm not sure if I or someone else already mentioned this, too lazy to look right now, but using a spline painter like the one in Graphite modeling tools or Soulburn Scripts Spline Painter (what I prefer) you can paint splines on other objects, which is great for drawing out wires really fast.